Cattle Grids

Vital Spark

For a carbon bike would you carry on or dismount?
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks all

DeVlaeminck

Just go over them full gas never a problem.

pblakeney

No problem on a steel frame.
A modern plastic thingy may disintegrate.

bobmcstuff

PBlakeney wrote:

No problem on a steel frame.
A modern plastic thingy may disintegrate.

Especially if it's raining

StillGoing

Vital Spark wrote:

For a carbon bike would you carry on or dismount?
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks all

Seriously? Just ride over the things being wary that sometimes farmers neglect to replace broken sections that their equipment and cars will easily navigate. A bike though would be like dropping into a big pothole. Best to go full tilt and bunny hop if it looks like there is a section missing. And yes, a carbon frame will take bunny hopping.

redvision

Vital Spark wrote:

For a carbon bike would you carry on or dismount?
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks all

If you are using cleats then I think you should definitely dismount and try to walk across, preferably whilst a clubmate is filming. Would be quite amusing i imagine.

Serious, just ride over them. They are going to do no harm.

bendertherobot

Max Speed. Bunny hop

Matthewfalle

Rolling endo.

kingstongraham

Uphill in the wet, be careful to be straight on and don't stand up.

singleton

Try taking them at an angle...

darkhairedlord

wait for the support car and have a fresh bike ready on the other side.

foggymike

Hit straight on at a steady speed with some decent momentum and no worries. Bunny hop if going fast enough. You don't want the rear wheel (well, either wheel really) slipping at low speeds on a wet cattle grid so just get over it pronto.

Tip for bike tarts :- keep it in the big ring with a bit of power on if you want to minimise chain bounce and look after your chainstay paint

Brakeless

I find the best way is to wheely over them. You halve your chances of slipping as you only have one wheel on the ground.

singleton

I did Blenheim triathlon a few times and there were at least two cattlegrids per lap - one was probably at the fastest point on the course -and each person did 3 laps for the 20k bike leg.
Even when it was really wet I don't think there were any major incidents caused by the cattle grids themselves - although plenty of road rash on wet corners.

mrfpb

Probably not as risky as riding a carbon bike over miles of cobbles in the Spring classics

cougie

Love the one on the horseshoe pass. You hit it at 40 on the way down. Coming back up is a bit slower mind you.

I've never thought to do anything but ride over them.

alex222

A friend of mine took one in the New Foreast at a slight angle and the bike almost went sideways. How she kept it upright I will never know.

Brakeless

Slightly off topic but there are a lot of cattle grids outside properties in the New Forest to stop the ponies getting into gardens. There used to be, may still well be, ponies that knew to lie down and roll over them.

chris_bass

I carefully zigzag across each rung in turn

robbo2011

Turn around and go back home. Any other course of action is simply too dangerous.

singleton

Brakeless wrote:

There used to be, may still well be, ponies that knew to lie down and roll over them.

Does that technique work for cyclists? Anyone care to give it a try?

step83

Singleton wrote:

Brakeless wrote:

There used to be, may still well be, ponies that knew to lie down and roll over them.

Does that technique work for cyclists? Anyone care to give it a try?

Don't know, could try doing the worm over one, I hear its only of the safest ways to cross these days.

bikes`n`guns

I hate the fekin things, I fair shyte masell going over them.

the_cyclist_of_catan

I came off on a cattle grid in the wet, which I hit at an angle (stupid mistake). Do not steer, brake or do anything else while riding across wet metalwork.

Then 18months later I snapped my femur on a wet manhole cover.

Bloody metalwork. I'm now terrified of the stuff unless it's (a) dry and (b) I'm riding in a very straight, upright line acoss it. Because I now have a very straight, upright scar running the length of my thigh to remind me not to do it any other way.

PTestTeam

Ride into the middle of them then turn 90 degrees right

bbrap

Depends on the grid, the square section ones I hit at full pace and barely notice them, the ones with round bars seem to act like sleeping policemen and really cause a problem. So to answer the OPs question, it depends on the individual grid, if you are riding unfamiliar territory be wary, it takes a lot longer walking with a buckled wheel than slowing down for a few seconds.

darkhairedlord

I went for ride around the new forest today, a wide range of grids presented themselves both flat topped and round. At lower speeds, such as uphill, the round ones could be taken with little difficulty as the bars were welded into a frame with longitudinal 1" wide sections that were easily traversed. At higher speeds both types were easily crossed by bunny hopping across with as much speed as could be mustered.

cyclingsheep

On a serious note there were some incidents on cattle grids during the 'Dragon Ride' a few years ago. Hit straight on the grids themselves aren't the problem but sometimes the Tarmac on the edge isn't great or has deteriorated thus causing a sharp lip which if hit at speed could have potential consequences. I'm not saying crawl over them but maybe don't go over one you don't know the surface of at 45mph.

stueys

Cattle grids, rail tracks, same approach for me. Always hit at 90 degrees at a reasonable speed but not full gas. Walking across cattle grids in cleats is probably a lot more tricky than riding the things

Marvinman

Agreed the round ones can be lethal - twice I have come a cropper uphill on round bars and ended up putting my foot through the grid. Lucky not to end up with a pretty nasty injury. The square/flat ones are not so much of a problem.